Keith wrote the song with frequent collaborator Bobby Pinson and actor/singer Scott Reeves. Keith told Billboard magazine that they wrote the song in early 2010 and he almost left it off the album because of the number of other patriotic songs he has recorded. Pinson told Taste of Country that he and Reeves started talking about buying American-made merchandise to support the country. After writing part of the song, they thought it sounded like something Keith would record, so Pinson took what he had finished to Keith, who helped him complete the song.To date, this is Keith's last song to reach number one on the charts.
Content
The song is an uptempo, in which an older farmer, a retired United States Marine, and his schoolteacher wife, who will only buy American products, are disgusted by the influx of foreign goods, from cars to cotton. The song features still photos of Toby Keith's father showing his “Semper Fidelis tattoo” and talking about how he "Won't buy nothing that he can't fix / With WD-40 and a Craftsman wrench". The veracity of these lyrics should be questioned, however. The United States is actually the second largest exporter of cotton in the world. Foreign purchases of cotton are a significant resource for the American cotton farmer. According to Forbes magazine, foreign motor vehicle manufacturers are now making more cars and trucks in the United States than General Motors, Ford and all other U.S. companies combined. A Cars.com assessment in 2016 determined that the Toyota Camry, assembled at plants in Kentucky and Indiana, is the most made-in-the-U.S. car you can buy. The Honda Accord was a close second. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, United States petroleum product exports exceeded imports in 2011, the year this song was written. Energy exports for the United States continue to increase to the point that the U.S. should become a net energy exporter in 2020. Many Craftsman tools, including wrenches, are manufactured in China.
Critical reception
Billy Dukes of Taste of Country gave the song three stars out of five. He thought that Keith "sings with plenty of passion", but criticized the lyrics by saying, "While the song doesn’t feel like a remake of his previous anthems, it doesn’t live up to their high watermark, either." Matt Bjorke of Roughstock rated it four stars out of five, saying that while it is a 'list song', it had "strongly constructed lyrics". Former UFC fighter Dan Henderson used the song as his entrance music.
